A Salute to Woman

THE WEEKLY GLEANER | MARCH 24 - MARCH 30, 2021 | www.jamaica-gleaner.com | I Help us acquire at least 2,500 tablets for the 250 PACE sponsored kindergarten schools throughout Jamaica Learn more about this education initiative www.pacecanada.org/one-tablet @PACECanada.ja @PACECanadaOrg @PACECanada admin@pacecanda.org Donations are eligible for tax receipts A JAMAICAN centenarian who became the oldest person in Scarborough, Ontario, to get the COVID-19 vaccine is looking forward to life post COVID-19. Dora Skeen, 110, got her first dose of the COVID-19 Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at her Canada home onTuesday, March 16. Her second shot is scheduled for July. Speaking with The Gleaner by telephone Thursday from her home, where she has lived for more than 30 years, Skeen encouraged all Jamaicans to get the vaccine when it was their turn. “I am quite okay. I feel okay. I am still eating, drinking and sleeping since taking the vaccine,” said Skeen. “At first, I had said I would not take the vaccine, but I changed my mind and I am glad that I did.” She said taking the vaccine has not done her any harm. Born on December 29, 1910, in St Elizabeth, Skeenmigrated to Canada in 1980. She worked as a nanny until age 80 and has always lived in Scarborough. She had eight children – six still living – 20 grandchildren, 21 great-grandchildren, and five great-great-grandchildren. Skeen is optimistic about a post- COVID-19 era when life will return to normal. “I want to be able to visit with my family, and to one day be able to talk to them without a mask,” she said. Still living independently, Skeen has succeeded in keeping herself safe throughout the COVID pandemic by following the guidelines prescribed by Toronto Public Health: social distancing, washing her hands, wearing a mask, and staying isolated as much as possible from others. With Member of the Provincial Parliament Mitzie Hunter and Scarborough Centre for Healthy Communities Personal SupportWorker Joy London attending, the Pfizer- BioNTech vaccine was administered by a mobile team from the Scarborough Health Network. Canada has recorded more than 919,000 coronavirus infections since 2020, with deaths topping 22,500. Jamaica is in its third wave of the virus, registering record deaths and infections in the last six weeks. Dora Skeen, 110-y-o Jamaican braves COVID-19 DR ROSINA Wiltshire is a Caribbean woman, noted scholar, political scientist, policymaker, international development specialist and advocate for gender equality, who has helped shape history in subtle, significant ways. From her birthplace in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, through the platforms of academia and diplo- macy, DrWiltshire’s influence and impact have had a global reach. Along this journey, she has been a pioneer, the first, the conceptualiser, encourager, leader and co-found- ing collaborator of many seminal initiatives which have advanced gender equality over the past four decades. She has worked with the International Development Research Centre in Canada as manager of the Gender and Sustainable Development Programme, and with the United Nations from 1994 to 2008 in several capacities, in- cludingas amember of staff at theUNHeadquarters inNew York; the UN’s Resident Coordinator to Barbados, repre- senting the UN Secretary General; and Caribbean Resident Representative of the United Nations’ Development Programme (UNDP) and United Nations’ (UN) Resident Coordinator in Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean. Her tenure with the UN was vibrant and saw her leading UNDP’s substantive role in the FourthWorld Conference onWomen, Development and Peace in Beijing. She was hief of learning of the inaugural UNDP’s virtual university which began in 1999. The alumna of the University of theWest Indies Mona campus completed her first degree in economics at Mona, and PhD in political science at the University of Michigan. Over a period of 20 years, she lectured at both UWI’s Mona and St Augustine campuses as well as at the University of Ottawa, Carleton University in Canada and the University of the Michigan in the USA. Her voice, knowledge and unbounded energy have re- sultedinherassociationwithlandmarkeventsandinitiatives. Dr Wiltshire: ■ is a founding member of the women’s studies pro- gramme of The University of the West Indies ■ travelled across South Africa, following the fall of the apartheid regime, under the auspices of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), in collaboration with the South AfricanWomen’s National Coalition, to capture the views of women on what the post-apartheid constitution should look like ■ recommended to the Nelson Mandela government the allocation of at least 30% of parliamentary seats to women ■ designed the survey question which yielded the re- search results that led to the inclusion of domestic workers in Jamaica’s minimum wage bill ■ was the first black female teaching fellow in international relations at the University of Michigan ■ is a co-founder of the black student caucus in the Political Science Department at the University of Michigan ■ worked with the governments of Rwanda and Sierra Leone to promote allocation of at least 30% of parlia- mentary positions to women ■ was the first Caribbean Community Advocate for Gender Justice to have been appointed by CARICOM ■ Started and led the Christian Meditation group at the United Nations New York ■ was part of the teamwhich drafted the Earth Charter ■ was member of the Planning Committee for the 1991 World Women’s Congress for a Healthy Planet, which shapedWomen’s Agenda 21, focused on making pro- visions for the recognition of women’s contributions and their full participation in sustainable development Of her place in and contribution to history, DrWiltshire said reflectively: “There is always a team with any first. I seek equality, justice and peace in the realisation of our common humanity.” DrWiltshire lives in Barbados with her husband Dr Jan Loubser and is a reiki master in the Usui Shiki Ryoho (USR) system. Her daughter Tonni Brodber is the representative with the UNWomen Caribbean Multi-Country Office. Ms Brodber’s father is Jamaican. Rosina Wiltshire, shaping history 38 THE WEEKLY GL AN R | MARCH 24 - APRIL 24, 021 | www.jamaica-gl eaner co | WOMEN’S M ONTH FEATURE